Suicide on the Freeway

“Do not give what is Holy to the Dogs.”

Epic Poem

(page count. 125)

A lengthy free-verse poem composed after a car accident in the Author's youth. A surrealist rant against the conformity of the Era, whereby the author chastises the stated injustice of the University and cultural elites, as well as a general lambast of the cynical American mores. It also exists as a calling for others to reject these indoctrinations.

The poem is written as a stream of conscious rant. The sections of introduction preluding the work give some sense of narrative structure, but the poem itself eschews narrative for the heated exchange between the author himself and unknown villains, as well as his protestation against their hedonistic lifestyle.

Grandiose and swelling language fuel the heated work. An exhaustive tirade against the conformity demanded by the culture.

Goddess

“She Reveals All Sorts of Madness”

Epic Poem

(page count. 61)

A lengthy surreal free-verse poem by John Canyon best described as a personal testimony of his College Experience. It features a central heroine of a female figure, the "Goddess" of the work, presented as a response to the University Culture and student population, but also as a metaphorical liberator from the clutches of dogma and ideology.

John Canyon writes in confessional style an existential outburst that both challenges the culture of the University, but also the lost innocence of modern youth, the lack of meaning and purpose in Western Culture, and the denigration of the male psyche caused by nihilism.

The poet posits the problem and then finds his meaning in the celebration of his own muse, channeling an enigmatic figure of the female form.

A First Utterance

“Singular of Manifold Impressions.”

Poetry Collection

(page count. 64)

The first poetry collection from John Canyon. The work exemplifies the poet’s emergence as an important new voice of distinctly American letters. This is the re-edited and re-released Second Edition.

The book exists as a proclamation of intent. A statement of personal vocation, and a celebration of the art of poetry for its own sake. John Canyon writes from a mystical perspective of his doctrine of the spiritual selfhood as necessary to moral action.

He speaks with profound conviction, yet with moral nuance. His work is both classical and post-modern, both worldly and transcendent of those worldly things. He relishes his identity as an artist, and speaks from a perspective not constrained by time or place, yet remarkably prescient of the philosophic and spiritual questions of his era.